Friday, July 19, 2013

You know those super-fun photo strips you can print at the mall or theme parks? They've gotten to be really trendy recently and I love 'em. We even had a photo booth at our wedding reception last fall! The company that ran the booth offered the option of having all the strips from the night printed and compiled into a scrapbook matching our wedding colors. Swoon. :)

At the wedding of our dearest friends last month, we popped in and out of a similar booth quite a few times throughout the night and I wanted to make sure I documented the strips rather than leaving them hang on the fridge. Though I've printed my fair share of fun photo strips over the years since junior high, I've never attempted to scrap them. So...I turned to Pinterest for some guidance. I found myself inspired by several layouts, but this one stood out to me the most:

I loved the way the strips were placed in a jagged form, with a somewhat uniform patterned paper behind and loads of ephemera all on one side.

Here's what I came up with:

Since I am working on a scrapbook album that is made up of ONLY Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm collection (my favorite ever), it was easy to choose my color scheme and appropriate embellishments. This was a lot of fun. Thanks for reading along with me. :)

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Do any of you get stumped when it comes to scrapbooking, the thing you love the most?

Scrapbooking is what really opened the major door to crafting for me, in 2003, when I was 17 (!). Since then, I've run into some major scrap-roadblocks, mostly due to my fear of lack of organization. Confession: I can't stand the thought of completing a page or Scrapbook, only to discover later that I documented something inaccurately or in the wrong order. I mean, I obsess over the order of photos down to the week, day, even hour and minute as far as sequence. It's ridiculous. This has become a huge creative handicap for me, causing me to never really finish my scrapbooks.

Is that crazy? 10 years and not one real finished album to show for it. Oy. :(

We got married last October, and I told myself that day would be the official end to me putting off documenting because of this fear. I'm struggling with it for sure, but I am also getting back into scrapping (both 6x6 and 12x12) and I could not be more thrilled! I am happy to report that I had a day free from work the other day and had a scrapbook marathon day.. I completed quite a few pages, both large and mini, and even tried some new techniques! Here are some peeks at my 12x12 pages, complete with a technique I finally got brave enough to try: ink misting/masking!

Thanks so much for reading along. I hope I can be of some help or inspiration to someone else who struggles with the business end of scrapbooking, too. Just try to remember it doesn't have to be perfect (perfect is such a terrible word). At the end of the day, if you enjoy looking at the art you've created - and at least know the people in the photos and a rough year ;) - you've accomplished great things! Until next time..

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

I received a package I was expecting this afternoon and among the items in it were some new mini punches and three new Copics! I also got some dew drop ink pads, twine, and mini alpha stickers. I was really inspired to put the new things to use, and came up with a card I am just in love with. Isn't that fun to say when it's about something you've made with your own two hands? :)

Mini Ombre Hearts

Before I knew I what I wanted to actually create, my workspace looked something like this. It began because I wanted to try out my new Sketches (BG13, BG18, + B29). The blue I purchased is not one recommended to blend with the others I have from that color family, so I wasn't expecting great results. As I blended them I thought, Why not test my cute little heart punch and see how they blended? I was giddy over the result, a bright, bold, vibrant blue just screaming out. I just love with when a happy little accident happens like this. I decided to blend a few other colors combos, and by the time I was done doing that and punching them out, I had a load of cute itty bitty hearts on my desk. I added a Lawn Fawn sentiment in probably my favorite font ever, some of my new gold maya road twine, and voila. I'll be keeping this on my shelf so I can oogle at it for awhile. :)

I made 2 other minis:

Mini Sweet Strawberry

(Using Admit One and Summertime Charm Stamps + Lawn Cuts)

(Using Here's the Scoop)

Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you'll feel inspired to put your new items to use right away, no matter the comination. Make something you love!

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

I created this baby card tonight using Lawn Fawn Plus One, copics, stickles, and my cuttlebug. As much as I love trying new techniques, I love having staples like some of these to fall back on. There's a reason they've stayed popular!

I trimmed scrap from my stash to 3.75" x 2" in peach, mint, and light yellow. I ran them through the Cuttlebug using my first and trusty-dusty Swiss Dots folder. I punched the bottom of each layer using the EK Success border punch "Bumpy Road", and adhered each one with a strip of ATG adhesive only at the very top. Once there were adhered down, I sort of flipped the bottom of each layer outward to give it some depth.

On a white scalloped circle, I stamped my image in London Fog ink and colored it using R22, G00 and Y21. No shading this time. I adhered it with a large, thick foam square and over the top I used Bundled Sage and Mustard Seed Distress Stickles.

Finally, on the topmost (yellow) layer, I stamped a sentiment from Grand Greetings in New Sprout ink and tied a bow using yellow Doodletwine. Voila!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I so appreciate your comments, questions, and subscriptions! ;)